Having just completed our fifth annual Wounded Warriors Canada Battlefield Bike Ride (BBR18) in the Balkans, BBR19 – Operation Overlord +75 – will build on the life-changing experiences of our previous rides as we celebrate, commemorate, and reflect on Canada’s considerable contributions along the Normandy Coast in World War 2.
The Battlefield Bike Ride is an event designed through the lens of Wounded Warriors Canada’s guiding ethos: Honour the Fallen and Help the Living. To date, over 500 cyclists have participated in the events, collectively raising over $2.5M in support of our national mental health programs and services benefiting ill and injured Veterans, First Responders and their families across Canada. Participants are comprised of serving and retired members of the Canadian Armed Forces, Veterans, Active and Retired members of our First Responder community and civilians from coast-to-coast.
BBR19 will begin on the Beaches of Dieppe where our group will pause and reflect at the fate of the Canadians during the misnamed Operation Jubilee. Highlighted on our journey will be stops in places that played a pivotal role in World War 2, places forever etched in the annals of time and places that set the stage for the events of D-Day 1944. Before travelling west along the coast and slightly inland we will reflect on the strategic significance of the historic cities and towns in the region.
Passing Rouen, we will visit the significant seaport of La Havre, which was liberated in part by the 1st Canadian Army. As we near Juno we will visit the Pegasus Bridge in Ranville and stop for a commemorative service at the Pegasus Pub – the first home liberated in occupied France in the early hours of June 6. . Ceremonial stops will also be held at the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery and the l’Abbaye d’Ardennes where we will pay special homage to the memorial of the eighteen Canadian soldiers were murdered in the garden while being held as prisoners of war. Our BBR19 journey will end at Juno Beach alongside all of the activities set to take place to mark the historic day.